Tuesday, September 16, 2008

I travelled to Manila. I am staying for a week.I wish I could kill Lodel of PipLinks (for selling me) but he said he will nail down Cocoy of LRC (who acted as a talent manager). Ahh… Lodel said “I should be thankful” and I know it’s a privilege to be with them on the other hand.When the plane was about to land Luzon, I watched from the sky the Laguna de Bay and the matchbox houses. The roads were not so flooded with cars and I realize that Manila is not all sky scrappers.I wonder what the fisherfolk used in dividing the lake into blocks of fishing areas. It reminded me of Gary Granada's song "pinaghati-hatian na nila ang lupa... karagatan at himpapawid ngayon ay may bakud na..."As the plane glided into the runway of Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) I could not stop wondering where exactly he was shot and where was he exactly lying as he wallowed on his blood.I walked slowly down the airports corridors as stories about its controversial construction and contractors reverberates my mind.Oriented about how some people here could easily cheat anyone, I choose to ride a taxi that which I believed is secure.The driver was a good tour guide.He was full of stories about controversial building construction and super highways.I watched the AFP main office, the Air Force sanctuary and the Marine head quarter. I wondered about that Marine leader Antonio Trillanes and Querubin.I also thought of those brigade commanders once assigned in Lanao areas and those officers. (Now you know.)I was also thinking of Isidoro Balcita III, a friend back in my college years at MSU-Marawi who was sentenced to life for being an accessory of that kidnap for ransom activity that victimizes the son of our country’s former vice president Pelaez.I watched the buildings in Makati and in Quezon.I watch people and foreigners. I looked at US Embassy building, the Pambatang Museum and the National Museum… Bars and bands in a sweep glance.In the place where I am in, I cannot hear the complaints of the urban poor but I can see the dirty shores. I listen to foreign tongues… and I wonder about developments.I looked into Luneta Park... and a friend explained to a foreign guest the historic execution of Jose Rizal.Down here... where I stood are prominent hotels, stores and Star Bucks coffee shoppe...and I wonder why coffee are too expensive there when in our farm it's brought by middlemen at a very low cost.I know I still have so much to say...Just wait for my next blog. They said that we will stand by a pool.